Building Bridges

United States Ambassador to Indonesia Joseph R. Donovan Jr. has said the planned visit of US Vice President Michael R. Pence to Jakarta reflects the US government’s continued regard of the strategic partnership the two countries have achieved.

“His engagement with Indonesian leaders will serve to strengthen our strategic partnership through discussions centered on deepening our economic engagement, boosting our cooperation on shared regional security priorities and increasing our people-to-people contact and exchanges,” the US ambassador said in a statement on Friday.

During the visit, Donovan said, Vice President Pence would meet with President Jokowi “Jokowi” Widodo, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and a number of senior ministers and other Indonesian government officials. Pence will also meet with senior ASEAN officials and diplomats and have the opportunity to learn about Indonesia’s religious diversity and tradition of interfaith tolerance from Indonesian faith leaders, he added.

“He will also engage with Indonesian and American business communities to listen to their concerns and better understand how we can expand and deepen our economic ties,” said Donovan.

The ambassador said as the second and third largest democracies in the world, US and Indonesia were natural partners.

“We share many of the same values, as well as a desire to create greater economic opportunity for our citizens,” Donovan said.

“We hope that the vice president’s visit will further cement our shared goal of mutual prosperity for the citizens of both countries and allow us to work in tandem to help ensure a secure and stable Asia-Pacific region.”

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